3rd Quarter 2009 Economic Report released in Cayman
On March 3, 2010, the Cayman Islands Economics and Statistics Office released the 2009 Third Quarter Economic Report that shows further deterioration in the jurisdiction’s economy in all but the banking sector.
The report compiles all available economic indicators as at end of September 2009 and provides their percentage change since end of September 2008.
The significant change outlined in the report is annualized gross domestic product (GDP). According to key indicators, in the 1st 3 quarters of 2009, GDP decreased by 3.6%.
Significant declines are as follows:
• merchandise imports fell by 18% largely due to reductions in building materials, transport and transport-related items, and manufactured items;
• work permits decreased by 9.5%;
• new company registrations plummeted by 39.2%;
• mutual fund registrations saw a decline of 4.4% to total 9,838;
• the number of total visitor arrivals fell by 3.8%, due to a 13.1% slide in air arrivals and a 1.9% in cruise passengers;
• the value of building permits plummeted by 28.5%;
• the property market suffered a steep decline as the value of property transfers fell by 40.0%.
On the other hand, there were strong increases in domestic credit by commercial banks and water production. Domestic credit by commercial banks grew by 17.1%, while water production
grew by 4.6%.